


39th Street

by BuddingFlowers



Category: Deadpool - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Bottom Peter, Cute, Daily Bugle, Domestic, Firefighter Wade, Fluff, Gwen Is a Good Bro, Human Wade Wilson, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Peter Has a Son, Slice of Life, Spideypool - Freeform, Top Wade, Two-Shot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-04-24 09:14:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4913734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BuddingFlowers/pseuds/BuddingFlowers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If there was anything Peter hated more than being at work at 6:30 am on a Monday, it was being at work at 6:30 am on a Monday knowing that he didn’t have any topics to present to his seemingly ever-indignant boss.</p><p>You could say that Peter was desperate for scoops, but he thought himself past that mark, he would kill for a scoop right now. He was willing to run into a burning building as long as he could get his story.</p><p>He didn’t think he would actually get the opportunity, though.</p><p>In which Peter becomes a hero, expands his family, and meets a firefighter named Wade.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Visual Representations:**

Peter Parker

Gwen Stacy

Wade Wilson

Ben

# 39th Street

* * *

        If there was anything Peter hated more than being at work at 6:30 am on a Monday, it was being at work at 6:30 am on a Monday knowing that he didn’t have any topics/scoops to present to his seemingly ever-indignant boss.

You could say that Peter was desperate for scoops, but he thought himself past that mark, he would kill for a scoop right now. He was willing to run into a _burning building_ as long as he could get his story.

He didn’t think he would actually get the opportunity, though.

* * *

        It was a cold Monday morning, but not a quiet one. Peter had been dreading the meeting with J.J.J all morning long, and he only had 2 hours before it all started.

Just as he was about to give up all hope of obtaining an interesting story, his bus slammed on it’s brakes on 39th Street, and a man outside screamed bloody murder. He looked outside and he saw a woman. She was shouting. Saying things like “She killed her own husband!” and “I can’t believe it! Someone! Call the fire department!”

Peter practically flew from his seat, he ran outside the bus so quickly he thought his knees might have given out if he had attempted to turn. For some reason, tragedies and horrors didn’t faze Peter anymore. Nothing seemed to make him squeamish.

It wasn’t that he was jaded or depressed, he had just acquired total control over his emotions. He wasn’t like a robot. For instance, when his uncle Ben died, he cried himself into a drought. He had found that this only happened after he attained a job at The Daily Bugle. Once he found out that reading, watching, and investigating these stories was his job, he stopped thinking about it like a story, and more like an opportunity.

That’s why the burning apartment building in front of Peter really perplexed him. He had never really had a fear of fire, so he was wondering why his legs were locked in place directly in front of his God-given scoop.

Maybe it was the intensity of the fire… Peter would never know. But for five straight minutes he just stood there, gaping at this broiling fire. He looked at the small windows, you could see directly inside the rooms because the curtains had burned away. All you could see inside the rooms were flames, though.

That’s when Peter heard it. It was faint and you could have missed it if you weren’t careful, but this fire had Peter on edge, so of course he heard it. The little baby’s whimper.

Something happened in Peter’s head that changed him. Instead of waiting for the belated firefighters to show up at the scene, Peter ran inside the building, disregarding all safety rules because he knew that baby didn’t have five minutes.

As soon as Peter ran into the crumbling doorway, the smoke stung his eyes and made his body want to back out of the dangerous building. Peter paid no attention and kept running, he could still hear the baby crying, that was a good sign.

He ran up the stairs at a speed he didn’t know he could reach, and when he saw the baby’s predicament, he stopped for a second. The flames were all about the floor, walls, and ceiling, and the baby was set in the midst of the inferno.

Peter jumped.

He didn’t know why he jumped, though. He just did. He landed right in the middle of it all, coincidentally in the temporary safe haven. He grabbed the baby, and it’s screams quieted down to gurgles.

He heard a crack in the ceiling and he knew that this room didn’t have a lot of time left, and quickly fled, but as soon as he stepped outside the door, the ceiling incurvated. He wished he could say that he escaped scot-free, but that wasn’t the case. When the ceiling collapsed, a beam had fallen on his leg, and he was bleeding badly.

He didn’t stop though, he kept running. As soon as he made it to the hallway in front of the exit, he heard a screech. It wasn’t from a baby, nor was it from an adult. It sounded like a young child. That same determined feeling budded inside Peter again, and he knew what he had to do next.

He ran outside quickly, relishing the fresh air, but he knew he had to go back in. He searched frantically for anyone who might be able to hold the baby until somebody claimed it, but he only got wary glances.

Peter turned to a man on the phone, “Are you calling the fire department?” Peter asked.

The man nodded, “Yeah, they were supposed to be here ages ago, but there’s another fire across the city, and it’s taken up most of their trucks. They’re trying to see what they can do.” He said numbly. Peter just nodded slowly.

He walked up to a woman and asked her if she could hold the baby, but she got angry. “I will not! I will not! My daughter is in that fire still because a’ that baby’s parents!” She screamed.

“I’m going to go in to look for your daughter, I’m going to need you to hold the baby while I go in, though. Hurry, your daughter’s still in there.” He explained firmly, angry at her for her selfishness. The lady finally complied and grabbed the baby’s sides awkwardly.

When Peter ran back inside the building, it was different from the first time. Everything was burning and it had somehow gotten hotter. Peter could barely breathe, and his eyes were so watery that he was practically blind.

“Hello?!” Peter called, but there was no response. He started to get worried, “Hello!? If there’s anyone in here you need to answer me!” He screamed. No answer. Peter’s stomach started to sink.

He ran up the stairs and started checking the rooms that weren’t totally collapsed, but he found that most of them were vacant. There were only two rooms left. He hurried over to the first one, and he saw two people lying on the floor. He approached them, but found that they were dead. It wasn’t the fire that killed them, though.

One had a bullet wound through the chest, and the other through the heart. So this was the murder-suicide couple.

Peter didn’t have time to spare looking at them, so he quickly ran off to the second room. That’s when he saw the girl in the corner. She was holding a pillow against her mouth and she was huddled in the corner, barely protecting herself from the flames.

“Come on! Come to me.” Peter tried, but the girl just shook her head, obviously scared out of her wits. “I’m gonna try to save you- uh, what’s your name?” He asked calmly, she mumbled something. “What was that? I couldn’t hear you.” He smiled.

“Joyce.” She mumbled.

“Hello, Joyce. I’m Peter, all I’m trying to do is return you to your mother,” Joyce’s face lit up, “I just need you to- ah..” Peter was cut off when the wound on his leg started to make him drowsy.

_He hadn’t lost that much blood, had he?_

__

“What’s wrong? You’re hurt…” She mumbled quietly, biting her lip.

“What? Oh, it’s just a scratch. It really is hard to breath in here, and I bet your mother’s worried sick. Come on, let’s get out of here.” He said slowly. Joyce stood up, “That’s right..” He held out his hand and walk towards her.

She took his hand and Peter saw the ceiling start to collapse above her. Peter pulled her into her arms and ran out of the room, barely missing it. He set Joyce on his back and started to run, they were on the second story and the floor was starting to give out. He tried to make it down the stairs, but his leg gave out and they tumbled. Peter made sure that he took the brunt of the fall. It took almost all of his leftover strength to get back up again. He started running down the rest of the stairs, but the world was blurred and foggy.

He heard sirens as he approached the door, which seemed to just be a doorway of white light. When he ran outside, he saw a firetruck pull up beside the building.

_Finally._

There was a firefighter going in to search, but Peter put his hand on his shoulder. The firefighter turned around, “There’s no one left in the building. Just two murder victims.” He assured. The firefighter looked at him in shock. Peter couldn’t see the man’s face, though. His eyes had stopped working for the moment, and just a couple seconds after that, his knees buckled and he fell.

All he remembered after that was the man telling him that “Everything was gonna be okay.”

* * *

 

        When Peter woke up, the bright lights were all he could see. He couldn’t hear anything, either. “Am I dead?” Peter asked himself rhetorically.

“No, you are very much alive, Mr. Parker. What you did for those children was very brave. You should know that you’re considered a hero around these parts of the city, now.” A man said.

“Who are you? Where am I?” Peter was slowly adjusting, he sat up. Shapes were now starting to form and his vision was now getting clearer.

“Saint Benedict Hospital.” He clarified, that’s when Peter’s senses finally cleared out. He was in a pale hospital room. The color pallet in the room was pastel green and white. Peter looked at the wires hooked into his arms. There was an IV tank full of blood connected to his veins. Peter grimaced.

“How are the kids?” He asked, the nurse turned to him, a smile on his face.

“Well,” he began, “I don’t know if I’m supposed to be telling you this, but the older girl you rescued was virtually unscathed. Just a few minor bruises and scrapes. The baby, well, it’s still with child services. They’re probably going to send him to Jude’s orphanage… Poor thing.” He sighed.

Peter frowned, “Oh yeah, wonder why the mother did that. How could someone kill their spouse and then light their building on fire? Knowing full-well that the other residents were in there. Probably sleeping, too.” Peter said distastefully, sitting up completely and re-adjusting his blanket.

“Yeah, especially since she lit the crib on fire first.” The nurse scowled. Peter raised his brows.

“Why would she do that?” He asked Peter, the nurse walked up to his side.

“You know,” He said slyly, “Some say that she was in a green card marriage, but he refused to let her go after they got hitched, said he fell in love with her. He threatened her secret if she ever asked.” The nurse looked around one more time before adding, “They said that the baby was made from rape, and that she never loved it because of that, but you didn’t hear it from me.”

Peter’s eyes were wide. It made sense that she might have gone a little crazy, but putting everybody else’s life in danger was inexcusable.

“Hey, Mr. Parker,” The nurse called at the doorway, “You know the firefighter you stopped before you collapsed?” He asked, Peter nodded, “He went over to the hospital as soon as he heard that you were brought here, but we couldn’t allow him to see you due to a few discretional laws, so we sent him away. If you ever wanna see what all that was about, he said his name was ‘Wade Wilson’.”

Peter nodded gratefully, “Maybe I will, thanks.”

“No problem, kid. Anything else before I go?” He asked at the doorway.

“Actually, yes.” The man turned to him, “Could I speak with one of the social workers?”

The nurse grinned.

* * *

        It had been a month since the fire on 39th Street, and Peter had been adjusting nicely back into his old life. He barely needed his crutches anymore, and he had been excused with pay from work.

Peter never went to visit “Wade Wilson”. He wanted to at first, but… He was kind of nervous. He didn’t know why, but he was just too anxious to ask what he was going to say. He’d ask later, maybe.

Well, Peter only had a foot brace, now. He was ready to go back to work. Only problem was, he needed to find a babysitter.

Why would Peter need a babysitter? Because he had been a dumb sap and adopted a baby boy at the age of 23. That pretty much killed his social life. But at the same time, little baby Benjamin had made his life more complete. He made Peter so happy, it didn’t matter if Peter skipped a nice date or two if, at the end of the day, he got to return to his beautiful baby boy.

* * *

        “First day back, Parker. I hope your injured leg won’t get in the way.” J.J.J commented, “Your article about the apartment fire was good, though. Really good.” He complimented, which surprised Peter.

“Wow, thank you so m-” Peter began, but was cut off when John Jonah pointed his finger directly in front of his temple.

“But you were reckless. Goodness, Parker! I’m paying you to get _up close_ , not to get _involved_! That was sloppy, Parker. I won’t have it again.” He scolded.

“Won’t happen again.” Peter said firmly, John just nodded and walked to his office. Peter took it as an opportunity to call home. He was worried sick about Benjamin and Gwen. He dialed home.

“Hello?” He heard Gwen answer, she sounded distracted.

“Is everything alright? I have a funny feeling, how’s Ben? Is he-” Peter babbled, but Gwen smiled.

“Ben is fine, I’m just changing his diaper. Goodness gracious, Peter. What have you been feeding this little guy? Food goes through his system faster than a gun can fire a bullet. This is- what, the _sixteenth_ diaper?” She complained.

“He isn’t usually like that, Gwen! What if-” Peter rambled, but he was cut off when he heard Gwen laughing.

“I’m just kidding!” She giggled, she could practically see Peter’s glare. “It was just a joke, Pete! Promise it won’t happen again.”

Peter just sighed, “Okay, Gwen. You’re killing me over here. I think I see a gray hair.” He joked. Gwen was about to say something when she heard John Jonah scream Peter’s name from the other line.

“Talk to you later?”

“Talk to you later.”

* * *

        Peter got off of work early. Whether it was J.J.J feeling bad for him, or just plain luck, he’ll never know. All he knew is that he wanted to hurry home to greet Gwen and hold Benjamin. It had only been a half-day and Peter already missed Ben so much.

When Peter parked in his driveway, he noticed that there was a car he had never seen before parked by his curb. Maybe it was one of his neighbors friends… But there was plenty of space by his neighbors house to park. Peter shrugged.

When he came inside the house, he heard Gwen talking in the living room.

“Gwen?” He asked, hanging his coat and scarf on the rack. He walked over to the living room. “Who’re you talking to?” He asked. He saw a strange man sitting on his sofa. He was talking with Gwen.

“Oh, Peter, I didn’t know you were home.” Gwen smiled, Peter walked up to her with a questioning glance between her and the man on his couch. “Oh! This is Wade. Wade Wilson.” Peter froze, “He said he knew you and offered to come back later, but it was raining and I thought he’d be better inside. I hope you don’t mind.” She explained.

“Oh.” Was all Peter could say. “And where’s Ben?” He asked. Gwen just pointed to the nursery.

Wade stood up, revealing his astounding height. He had thick blond hair and he was wearing a gray firefighter jumpsuit. “Hello, Mr. Parker.” He greeted.

“Hello, Mr. Wilson.” Peter said in the same tone, he looked at Wade expectantly, wondering why he came here.

“Well, Um.” Wade began, trying to verbalize what he wanted to say. “Do you remember the apartment fire we had a week ago?” Wade asked Peter, he nodded.

“Well, my crew and I were busy with a larger fire. Most stations were sent to that fire, in fact. A chemical factory exploded, I’m sure you heard about it.” Peter nodded again.”I just wanted to thank you on behalf of my team and I. Without you, those children would have died. You almost died, too. I tried to thank you sooner, but..” Wade explained.

Peter smiled. “Thank you so much.” was all he could say. “Well, feel free to stay as long as you’d like, Mr. Wilson.” Peter told him.

“Wade. You can call me Wade.” Wade grinned. Peter was about to say something when Ben started to cry.

Wade turned to Gwen, confused. “Is that your son?” He asked her.

Gwen smiled, “No, that’s Pete’s. And we’re just friends.” She informed. Wade nodded.

“Oh, he’s married.” Wade said thoughtfully. “He looked young. I thought he was still in highschool when I first saw him.” He told Gwen.

“Actually, no.” Gwen said, “He’s single,” Gwen began with an eyebrow wiggle, “and he’s not actually related to the baby. He just adopted him. The baby is the one from the fire.” She told him.

Wade stared at Gwen for a minute. “That’s the baby from the fire?” He asked, Gwen nodded. “And he adopted him.” She nodded again. “In high school.” He said for clarification, Gwen laughed.

“No, he’s like twenty three.” She grinned. “Totally legal.” She whispered, hoping he’d catch it.

“Well, Ms. Stacy, thank you so much for letting me in.” He said, walking towards the door.

“The pleasure’s mine. Feel free to come back if you’d like.” She smiled. Peter walked over with Ben against his chest.

“Leaving?” He asked.

“Yes Sir.” Wade said. Peter smiled and walked up to him.

“I’d shake your hand, but I haven’t quite gotten the hang of carrying him with one hand, and I don’t want him to face-plant.” Peter explained. Wade laughed heartily.

“Well, it was brilliant meeting you. Gwen told me about what you did for this baby and I think it’s magnificent. Damn magnificent.” He added. “I’d really like to get to know you more if that’s possible. It might not be with the baby and your job…” He added nervously, Peter just stayed silent.

“I mean, if you want to… You don’t have to go, but.. I mean, if you ever want to go get a drink sometime or something that wouldn’t the worst thing in the world…” Wade said anxiously. Gwen looked like she was going to have an aneurysm.

Peter smiled calmly, “Yeah, that’d be nice.” He smiled. He wrote down his number on a piece of paper and handed it to Wade. “Call me.” he smiled.

“Will do.” Wade giggled, and he walked out the door.

As soon as the door shut there were several quite seconds before Gwen started to giggle. “Was I just asked out on a date by a hunky firefighter?” He asked.

“Yes!” Gwen screamed, running around the house. “My, my, Parker! Quite the catch, eh?” She laughed, Peter just glared playfully at her. "So you finally admit that you're gay!" She screamed in triumph. Peter laughed.

 

"Peter, Peter! Suddenly a penis-eater!" She sang, Peter gasped.

 

"Gwen Stacy..." Peter said tightly, "If you say one more thing.."

“So, when is he gonna call? When? When?” She asked. Peter sighed. 

“Well, Gwen, I hate to tell you this, but I’m not psychic.’ He said seriously. Gwen punched his arm.

“But how cool would it be if you had some kind of weird sense? It would tell you whenever something big was gonna happen! That’d be so cool.” Gwen laughed.

“Goodnight, Gwen!” Peter said, walking to the nursery, Gwen sighed.

“Goodnight, Peter.”

* * *

It was 5 days later, on Saturday, when Peter’s phone started buzzing.

“Hello?”

**  
**


	2. Gwen Stacy

“Hello?” Peter asked, wondering who it was. He heard the person on the other side laugh nervously, Peter lifted a brow.

 

“Hey! It’s me, Wade Wilson… From the fire department…. We met in your living room..” He said awkwardly. Peter let out a hum of remembrance.

 

“Mr. Wilson! It’s so nice to hear from you again.” Peter smiled on the other side of the call. He had been out buying groceries when Wade called. He walked over towards the avocado stand to check if they were ripe.

 

“Please, call me Wade.” Wade said, Peter smiled tightly and reddened. Thankful that Wade couldn’t see. He accidently squeezed the avocado he was holding a little too much, though. Peter cursed when the unborn guacamole practically exploded onto his hands, arms, and a bit by his collarbone. He placed the phone on his shoulder so that he could use both his hands to try to clean it off. 

 

Peter realized that he had been eerily silent while cleaning off the avocado, “Whoops! Sorry, Wade. I… I killed an avocado.” Peter said slowly. “You can call me Peter, too. Forgot about that part.” He chuckled. Wade laughed.

 

“Killed an avocado? How’d you manage that?” He asked curiously, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. Peter sighed.

 

“I’m at the supermarket down by 39th Street,” Peter began, he heard Wade hum in acknowledgement, “And they have this ridiculous sale on their avocados.” He continued, “So I pick one up, squeezing it lightly; trying to see if it’s ripe or not, and I guess I squeezed too much or something, because boom! It exploded onto my hands and chest.” he sighed.

 

Wade tried to ignore the way Peter had phrased that.

 

“So, what’re you up to, Wade?” Peter asked curiously, checking out of the store. Wade sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

 

“Just packing up at the station. I got off early.” He explained, “I was just wondering… Do you have anything planned for tonight?” Wade asked. Peter climbed in his carseat and sat there for a second.

 

“Nope, nothing planned.” He smiled, starting up the car and pulling out of the parking lot. He heard Wade’s sigh of relief and tilted his head, humming thoughtfully.

 

“I was just wondering, I mean, if you’re up for it.. If you wanted to go out and do something with me tonight…” Wade babbled. Peter smiled and leaned back in his seat.

 

Peter was smiling, now. he nodded enthusiastically as he slowed at the stop sign.

 

“Uhm, Peter?” Wade asked, wondering if he was still there. 

 

“Oh! Sorry, I forgot we were on the phone…” He explained, mumbling the last part. “Yes. I meant to say yes. I would love to do something tonight.” Peter said. He heard Wade’s not-so-subtle sigh of relief and chuckled a bit.

 

“I’ll pick you up at seven?” Wade asked, Peter thought for a minute,

 

“What about eight? I need a babysitter for Ben, and Gwen gets out of SI at seven thirty.” He proposed, Wade hummed thoughtfully.

 

“Eight it is, Petey.” Peter nuzzled his face into his scarf a little when he heard the nickname, reddening. 

 

“Alright, see you.” Peter said, shaking his head at his own immature antics.

 

“See you.”

 

Peter pulled into his driveway and sat at the driver's seat for a while. Thinking about the conversation he just had with Wade. How Wade had  _ asked him out _ …

 

Wade called him  _ Petey. _

Peter shook his head took a deep breath. Now was not the time to go schoolgirl-crush mode. He had to put away the groceries and pick up Ben from daycare. Peter nodded to himself, trying to get his head out of the clouds and back into the game.

 

He’s an adult now. He has a full-time job, a house, and a goddamn son. He was more grown up than most twenty three year olds, anyway. Acting like a grown-up on this date should be a piece of cake.

 

A piece of fucking cake. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wade sat down on his bed slowly. He had just asked _ Peter Parker _ out on a date. _ City hero _ Peter Parker was going on a date with him. Peter Parker, the guy who _ ran into a burning building _ and saved multiple  _ children _ without any fire gear, risking his  _ own life.  _ Peter Parker! The man who adopted the little _ orphan child  _ from the whole incident at the age of  _ twenty three! _

 

Wade leaned back on the bed. He was lying on his back and staring at the ceiling. Caught up in his own thoughts. He stayed like that for a while, staring up at the pale blue ceiling. Thinking about what he should wear for his date…

 

_ Spiderman, Spiderman Does whatever a spider can _

_ Spins a web any size Catches thieves just like flies _

_ Look out, here comes the Spiderman _

 

Wade’s eyes snapped open at the sound of his ringtone. He sat up and answered.

 

“Yello?” Wade asked, he heard the sound of alarms in the background.

 

“Wade,” It was his colleague from work, “Sorry, man. There’s a huge fire downtown next to Stark Institute. We’re a little understaffed and we need all the help we can get.” he explained.

 

“I gotcha. Be there in a bit, Cable.” Wade answered before hanging up. He sighed and ran his hand down his face. It was seven twenty. He was gonna be late to pick Peter up, if he was going to be able to make it at all. 

 

“Stark Institute… Wasn’t somebody just talking to my about SI…” Wade mumbled rhetorically as he grabbed his keys.

 

“Isn’t that where Peter’s friend works?” He said slowly. When he walked outside he smelled smoke. He didn’t even live near SI, either. Wade started running, he had to get there quickly. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Gwen isn’t answering her phone…” Peter wondered, bouncing Ben up and down on his knee. “Maybe she’s caught up on work.” He sighed, carrying Ben over to the couch with him. He turned on the TV.

 

The first thing that showed up was Judge Judy, but Ben always cried when he saw her face so he started flipping through the channels. “What do you wanna watch?” He asked in a baby voice, Ben started giggling.

 

He stopped on the news channel when he saw SI. It was engulfed in flames. Peter stood up, getting closer to the screen. A reporter was standing outside, keeping her distance from the tall building.

 

“ _ Reports are unable to tell us how the fire was initially started, but we do know that it started on the 32nd floor. It started as a small containable flame but has since grown rapidly… There have been a total of seventeen casualties, thirty two people injured, and only fourteen virtually unharmed. Local firefighters are currently working their hardest to try to get it under control, but the fire has yet to back down. This has been-”  _ Peter shut the TV off. 

 

He paced around his room and slipped on a baby carrier, placing Ben in it. “Aunt Gwen is probably alright. She’s just not answering because she’s driving…” Peter said unconvincingly. He couldn’t just drive up there and watch, that would do nothing. He wasn’t about to run into a burning building when it wasn’t needed, either. 

 

All he could do was wait. Wait and think. Wait quietly and think about Gwen in a burning building… Not knowing what to do. Wade trying his best to help but getting injured…. Peter shook his head and paced faster. Ben looked up and gurgled curiously. Peter tried to smile, but he was just too worried. He kissed Ben’s head and sat down. 

 

He pulled out his phone and dialed Gwen’s number. “Answer, Gwen…” He pleaded, but it just brought him to voicemail again. “Hey, Gwen. It’s Peter. There’s a fire down by SI and I was calling to make sure you were doing okay. Get back to me as soon as you can, Gwen. See you.” He said half-heartedly. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wade shook his head when he first saw the building. It couldn’t have been real. It was lit up like a bonfire. Looked like the gates of hell. “Is anybody still in there?” Wade asked, trying to see past the flames. The other firefighter looked to him with a grim expression. 

 

“There are reports of about a dozen college students trapped on the top floor, but we don’t have a safe way to get to them!” He answered, wiping beading drops of sweat off of his forehead. Wade didn’t answer, he just headed in. “May God be with you!” The man said, heading back around the building.

 

Wade squinted through the flames, his mask wasn’t working properly, he shouldn’t have rushed it on, but he had no choice, he had to get there quickly. He rushed up the stairs, obviously avoiding the broiling elevator. The stair steps were killing his legs with all of the extra gear on his back, but he refused to slow down in fear of being too late for the practical  _ kids _ that were probably already contemplating suicide on the top floor. 

 

Wade could barely hear anything due to the roaring flames, but he could feel the foundation of the building start to shake, like something had just concaved. He started to run faster, causing him to start panting and sweating even more, the stairsteps were becoming more and more warped in Wade’s eyes. Due to his faulty mask, he was inhaling the dangerous smoke and fumes, and becoming drowsy. 

 

As Wade approached the top floor, he heard a  _ thunk _ and some crying. He knew that couldn’t have been good and quickly threw his weight against the door, successfully breaking it down. “Listen here, kids!” Wade yelled over the flames, but he paused when he saw that three of the five students had passed out. He bit his lip for a second, thinking about what to do when a metal beam from the ceiling had fallen down beside Gwen. Wade put two students over his shoulders but that was all he could carry. 

 

“I’ll carry him.” Gwen said quickly. Wade looked at her momentarily. “I’m stronger than I look.” She promised, and threw the student over her shoulder. “Hurry up, you’re leading us out of this damn hell-hole, right?” She asked, the silent girl with her looked at him with pleading, hopeful eyes.

 

“Of course. Follow me!” He instructed. He gestured quickly for them to go first, and they did. It was running from then on out. The stairs had been eaten away by the intensity of the flames surrounding them, and were crooked where the walls had incurvated against them, so they had to stay cautious. The ceiling didn’t look too promising, either. “Stay wary of the ceilings, kids. Keep your eyes on the beams above!” Wade warned, they were almost out. 

 

“There!” Wade turned to look at what Gwen was talking about. “There’s an exit right there!” She was pointing just around the corner. Wade urged them to go forward with him.

 

“Great work, Gwen!” Wade grinned. She just smiled. 

 

“Pete’s going to be so worried about us when we ge-” She started, but the ceiling gave away and landed on her. The door was just ahead. Wade and the girl were already out when they realized that Gwen wasn’t there. He set the two students down and quickly ran back in. All he saw was Gwen on her knees with blood pooling out of her mouth. There was a noise above her and she threw the student forward. 

 

“Look after Pete for me, will you?” She asked, it was barely audible. Wade ran towards her as the beams above her suddenly fell and she disappeared under them, everything after that started to fall. He picked up the student and ran out the door, setting him down with the paramedics. 

 

Wade was ushered over to one of the ambulances. He wasn’t responding to any of their questions, he couldn’t hear them. Wade pressed his hands over his face and sat there silently. The lights around him were still too bright for him to focus on anything, and his ears were ringing. Everything was in slow motion. 

  
  
  
  



End file.
